Reviews tagging 'Incest'

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

6 reviews

grey_writes_love's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

I would not have finished this book if it was not assigned to me. I never had any reason to root for Esther, or even to like her, save that the alternative was her death. Also, the consistent racism was a huge turnoff.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Drug abuse, and Suicide

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Medical content, Death of parent, Death, Sexism, Sexual violence, and Racism

Minor: Incest, Violence, Vomit, Alcohol, Child death, and Pregnancy

litliz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Death, Dysphoria, Body horror, Blood, Body shaming, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Medical trauma, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, and Mental illness

Minor: Racism, Sexual violence, Bullying, Sexual assault, Sexism, Pregnancy, Gun violence, Medical content, Incest, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Religious bigotry, Rape, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Death of parent, and Sexual content

meganreadsbook's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Mental illness, Body shaming, Racial slurs, Lesbophobia, Racism, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Medical trauma, Incest, Forced institutionalization, and Death of parent

h0neybear's review

challenging dark funny hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really enjoyed it. Preferred the second half. Definitely a very clever book, but I think I was a bit too dumb to understand some of it. I reckon I will at some point though. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Sexism, Confinement, Suicide attempt, and Mental illness

Moderate: Medical content, Death of parent, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, and Racism

Minor: Alcohol, Incest, and Sexual content

kibiiiariii's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Misogyny, Suicide attempt, Confinement, Body shaming, Medical trauma, Ableism, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Death, Forced institutionalization, Fatphobia, Grief, Mental illness, Homophobia, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Vomit

_inge's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

I had high expectations going into this, but those ultimately fell flat. The Bell Jar is written beautifully, some metaphors especially were really well done. I also understand now how impactful this book must’ve been on release - even now, the descriptions of self-harm and suicide attempts are shocking, and I imagine this character going against men would have been a lot to take in back then too. But the reading experience for me unfortunately wasn’t what I’d hoped it would be. 

There’s a lot of characters who are introduced briefly, and this book keeps shifting back from different segments in the past to the present. Often the protagonist thinks about something else whilst she’s having a conversation with another person, for instance. She’d trail off into her thoughts for a couple pages, and those thoughts then spark new memories so she trails off further. When she does end up back in the present it often takes you by surprise. You only have chapters to go off, no further indications about the story are being given. I often didn’t know if a particular event even mattered in the present either, sometimes a thought seemed more like an interesting anecdote the main character was remembering. 

This is also probably the most racist classic I’ve ever read. A black man speaks English in a caricature way, and his face is described as being like molasses. Every Chinese person in this is yellow. Chapter 10 starts with the main character describing her face as that of a ‘sick Indian’. A woman from Slovakia is a stereotype and only appears for (what is implied to be) sex, and an Italian woman mimics the main character’s mum and can’t be trusted either. Every non American, non white character is a stereotype or seen as less worthy. Obviously this was written in a different time, but that’s something to consider before reading. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Racism, Racial slurs, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Medical trauma, Medical content, Mental illness, Fatphobia, and Death

Minor: Torture, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Vomit, Sexual content, Misogyny, Incest, and Eating disorder